Virtual Politics

Speaking of fickle trends, someone recently pointed out an article about how the virtual worlds in online roleplaying games are reaping real world profits for some of their slightly more shrewd players. Even recording artists are holding concerts here, and fashion designers are selling virtual versions of their garments. Now, as politicians begin to embrace the blogsophere, I begin to wonder how long it will be before a candidate steps onto a soapbox in one of these in-game worlds to give a speech. With a growing user base at least as devoted as the bloggers, do these online worlds have the potential to become venues in the political sphere?